Endelwyne

Only Gods survive the fall of Empires

Final Battle in Jembokel

Narrative

The heroes find themselves trapped in the large Assarisan train car. Outside the 8 ft tall Zombie Orge has rushed forwarded and smashed his street sign post into the door of the train, buckling it, but not causing it to open yet.

Wasting no time the characters attacked the Orge, while the Wight hung back, apparently waiting to see what would happen.

With a flourish of magic the Ogre found itself suddenly being assaulted from all directions. Anna, pulled a shard of glass from her spell pouch and cast a cloud of daggers around the Ogre’s head. Sharasen cast Witch Bolt on the undead creature and Turok cast flaming sphere. In an instant the Ogre found itself in a malestrom of pain and it had to quickly retreat as Red Feather leapt out train car and sliced open its thigh with a Tomahawk.

Copper curled up in the train car to take a nap, yawning and stretching out.

The Ogre retreated out of the cloud and attempted to escape the sphere and the witchbolt. The Wight, filled with anger rushed Red Feather, but just as he was about to bring his wicked blade one of the spinning blades from the nearby cloud of daggers hit his hand, loosening his grip and sending his sword spinning into the train car. The Ogre sensing a chance to get back at the characters who had so badly hurt it rushed Red Feather as well, but the spirits of his ancestors had chosen this day to protect Red Feather. As the Ogre approached Red Feather timed a counter attack just right and stepped in toward the Ogre. The loss of his sword had thrown off the Wight’s balance. As Red Feather moved in, he drew the Wight forward and the great sign post mace the Ogre wields bashed into the Wight instead of Red Feather.

Sensing the battle was going their way the heroes pressed their attack. The Ogre fell under the onslaught of continuous magic, getting sliced, burned and electrocuted by the powerful magic of the spell casters. The creature couldn’t escape the whirling attacks, despite counter attacks against the users, they all were able to hold their concentration and eliminate the monster.

Calling on the power of nature Zook cast moonbean and the brilliant holy light tore into the undead magic of the Wight, damaging him severely. Red Feather attacked the now unarmed Wight, scoring massive hits in succession with his Tomahawks and destroying the fell creature with seeming easy measure.

With the two leaders vanquished is such easy succession the surrounding zombies rushed forward. Now the heroes seemed more pressed. The multiple targets of the zombies distributed their magical damage. With claws and bite the zombie horde was able to drop Sharasen. Just then the hourglass in the train rain dry and the car lurched forward. Red Feather rushed to Sharasen, grabbing up his body as Copper woke suddenly, blinked into the mass of zombie and helped to cover the escape. Turok had more difficulty climbing into the train as it started to roll forward. The zombies weren’t able to keep up as the train picked up speed.

Rolling down the track the train quickly left the station and the characters were able to see the streets of Jembokel, swarming with zombies and skeletons. The monsters were unable to harm them within the train as they quickly headed north, soon leaving the city.

An ingenious series of gates, like an air lock sealed behind them and then opened ahead revealing the great plains beyond the northern walls of the dead city. The heroes had escaped and were ready to leave the dead behind.

DM’s Corner

So… this battle didn’t quite go how I thought it was. I had hoped this would be the first really challenging battle for the players, as we really haven’t had that knock down, not sure if we are going to make it through battle yet. Even the battles with the goblins seemed passable.

Despite the correct level for this encounter it really didn’t feel all that challenging. A big part of that was the rolls. I had originally rolled two terrible initiatives for the Ogre and the Wight. Starting at the end of the order when the magic-users started throwing concentration and continuing damage spells was very hard for the monsters to fight against. The encounter didn’t have the option of dealing damage to the users, to break their concentration and from where they were, covered in the train car that had a big starting advantage.

Secondly, which was actually great fun, I rolled two critical fails for the first two attacks. The wight lost his sword, not connecting with Red Feather and then when the Ogre attacked he ended up hitting the Wight.

I also forgot the Wight had damage resistance, which would have helped, but when Red Feather hit the Wight two time in a row and with a Critical Hit, there wasn’t much different if I had remembered to only take the half damage.

Excited to have the players head to the Capital, I think the story will pick up from here and we have some new players that should be joining us soon!

Searching the Ruins of Jembokel

Narrative

After the terrible battle above the skies of Jembokel the PCs reach the end of the tramway and leave the car. Turok’s terrible injuries from the Will-o-wisps were finally identified. He had major burns on his chest from the lightening bolt and serious damage to his internal organs. The healing magic that saved him from the brink of death seemed to have started the healing process on the burns, but internally his body is still badly damaged.

The heroes all had to take a rest. With the sun now breaking over the roof tops of the city the undead hordes had retreated back to their hollows, so the long rest was secure and uneventful. The group roused about mid-watch in the afternoon and began to search the area around them.

The tramway station ended in a very large market district, which allowed the heroes to look for almost any item they needed.

Red Feather headed off with Copper and quickly found a number of stores with great items. Searching carefully, a single door caught his eye. It appeared that a store behind had built itself within an alley of two other buildings. He was drawn to it. Entering the gloom, he found himself in a small artesian black smith shop. Walking to the back of the alley, he explored the space. Turning slowly he discovered a full suit of polished half plate armor hanging on the wall. Searching the rest of the afternoon, he successfully found an intricately covered tall walking stick / quarterstaff with silver inlay and a wolf motif. He found barding for Copper, a set of War Dog leather armor that was black with bronze metal accents. He also found some coins in a few chests and bags in the other shops he checked.

Turok immediately went to find a fetcher so he could find a bow worthy of his high expectations. Having once owned a bow making business he had great success in finding a store that was obviously owned by a high quality fletcher. Using his arcana expertise he was able to find a bow, not in the store, but in the apartment above. Taking the fine bow from its perch he could immediately feel the quality of the manufacture. Searching for magic defensive items wasn’t quite as easy, however. Once the Wild Hunt’s horde reached the outskirts of Jembokel, most magic items of defense had already been taken to be used in the battles. His search wasn’t fruitless though, he found several potions that he saved for a later date.

Sharasen had great beginners luck. He entered a ransacked magic shop and was able to find an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location. He then tamed a wolverine in the merchant district park, feeding the hunger animal beef jerky from his pack. Searching for anything magical, he stumbled upon a hidden magical door, and after figuring out how to open it, he discovered a thieve’s guild secret stash of weapons and a Cloak of Evenkind, which he immediately took. He also discovered a potion of greater healing and a few coins in his searching.

Zook went on a search for weapons and armor. Knowing his limits as a druid made it a bit difficult to use everything he found. He found a well guarded armory store, which was surrounded by a fence of spears all with unique spearheads. Inside, he discovered an incredible wooden scimitar. The blade was covered in an inlayed scene of nature, with trees and animals all realized in perfect detail. He also discovered a Cloak of Elvenkind and a treasure trove of gold pieces.

After looting the area around them the team decided they should go to the train station and hide out in the train car, hoping to leave early before sun set.

The heroes arrived at the station, finding it completely empty, accept for one train car. The train seemed to be driven by a cog. Sharesen scouted the area with his hawk familiar and saw the large building was mostly dilapidated.

The characters broke a window in the train to enter it and Zook figured out how to open the locked doors from the inside. Working together the heroes couldn’t figure out how to make the train leave early, but they did find out that the mechanism seemed to be somehow connected to an hour glass that was counting down to the mid-evening watch departure time.

As the sun set the characters all took up positions inside the car. A bell tolled, echoing through the huge empty space of the train stations.

A scathing voice yelled at them:

“I am the Herald of Horchet, come out and join us or let me prove to my Lord that I can destroy you!”

They looked out the window, and standing in the open on the train landing was a wight, flanked by a ogre zombie. The 9 foot tall zombie was carrying a street sign with a ball of cement on the end of it as a weapon.

“Come out or we will destroy your rail car and you will never leave! Meet my challenge and if you survive you can leave!” Screamed the Wight.

The heroes collected themselves, Turok cast invisibility and crawled out of the broken window, however his damaged body was not strong enough and he fell while trying to get to the roof of the train car. The rest of the team tried to formulate a plan.

The Wight lost his patience, and allowed a flaming arrow to be launched from the group of zombies behind him. Then he ordered the Orge to attack the door of the train car. A single great hit buckled the door and the characters prepared for their next battle.

Mechanics and DM’s corner

Turok had to roll on the sustained injury table due to dropping below zero in the last adventure. Due to the severe damage he received, due to the Will o’ Wisps critical success, he had to roll twice on the table. He rolled for internal organ damage and festering wound. The festering wound healed by the magic that brought him back to health, but the internal damage will take longer. Any physical activity during combat will require him to make a Con save DC 15. This lends itself to roll playing the physically broken wizard archetype and will also impact his strange feelings of age as the game goes on.

The search for stuff in the merchant district was run as a skill challenge. The players had to RP the search and use one of their skills creatively to determine what they could find. Good RP resulted in advantage on the roll. DC of 10 got pedestrian loot, DC greater than 20 got great stuff. In cases where the bonus or power could be adjusted I had the players roll a 1d4 and took high or low. Zook got his +2 Scimitar due to having a very high check (23) and rolling a 4 on the d4, for example.

Each player got five chances to search and could specify what they were looking for or could roll on one of the random tables if they just wanted to search.

The skills challenge took a bit longer to play than I thought it would bite vetting seemed to have enjoyed it as a full game session.

Second Battle of the Sky Tram

Hanging 200 feet above the dead city of Jembokel the PCs take a quick minute to catch their breath and recover from the battle with the Specters. They Will-o-wisp has vanished into the night. The tram car is badly damaged from the battle with the Specters and the raging winds that Zook and Turok used to blast them. The shutters on the windows are all blown out, the doors are wide open, barely hanging on their hinges and the whole tram creaks with every movement of the heroes.

Closing the gap is the oncoming tram, full of skeletons. From his perch on top of the cable, Sharesen can now see the car coming. His spider climb has worn off but as they two cars close the distance, he uses a bit a halfling dexterity and luck and launches himself across the gap between the cable he was on, and the on coming tram. He lands securely on the roof and hears a chattering of teeth down below him.

To get a better view of the oncoming tram Red Feather climbs to the roof of the hero’s car and waits.

As the trams move closer the PCs create a plan, they will risk catching the oncoming tram car on fire. They will count on the spells of the druid Zook to put out the fire before the decades old hemp cable catches and snaps. When the two tram cars are just 30 feet away he starts to heat the metal in the clamp on the roof of the skeleton fullltram car, which holds it to the hempen cable. Sharsen sees the immediate results and smells the wood of the clamp as it starts to smolder. Sharsen examines the clamp to find it is linked to a control box, just like their tram and a plan starts to form in his mind.

Suddenly the shutters on the skeleton car drop and the hero’s car is lanced through with arrows. All the character dive to the floor of the tram as the dangerous missiles sale through the tram car and bury themselves into the dry wood of the tram wall. Copper the blink dog, starts to moan and together Red Feather and Zook come up with a plan.

Turok and Anna return fire on the skeleton car, Anna with her heavy cross bow hitting a skeleton and Turok, with a fire bolt. As he stands up a final arrow sales past him, throwing off his aim, sending the fire bolt sailing against the wall of the hero’s tram instead. He frantically puts out the resulting burst of fire and cinders.

Working together Zook, how casts Speak with Animals, and Red Feather, with his connection to the blink dog, show copper what they want him to do. In the hero’s tram are three levers, which they used to clamp the tram car to the ever moving cable of the tram way. Now they explain to the dog that they want him to blink to the other car and attack the levers in their car, releasing the car from the clamp.

Convinced that the dog is ready, they send him and with a snap and flash of light the dog blinks to the other car, surprising nearly 15 skeletons. Their eyes flash purple at the intruder but are so surprised they don’t immediately react.

The trams are now just a few feet from each other. Sharsen, understanding what might be happening leaps for the hero’s car, roof top to roof top. Red Feather is there and reaches out to grab him right as Copper leaps at the levers. He is so excited that he knows just what to do, with his nose and two paws he slams the three levers up and with a satisfying click the clamps holding the skeletons car to the cable releases. Finishing the leap and sure the levers are unlocked Copper blinks back to his tram and poses, tail waging and tongue rolling. He knows he’s done good.

Sharsen connects with Red Feather’s hand as the skeleton’s car begins to fall out from under him. The trams have gotten close enough that the doors are nearly equal. Five skeletons rush forward, crossing the few feet between the trams and attacking the heroes with their short swords. Behind them the tram car falls away.

Zook, Turok, Copper and Anna battle with the skeleton invaders. One of the skeletons catches Anna from behind, driving his short sword deep into her back and causing a terrible injury. Zook casts Shillage on club and make short work of two of the skeletons. In its rush to get in the tram, one of the skeletons tumbled and fell right in front of Turok. With his hand crossbow he shoots the skeleton right in the back of the head, nearly ending its undeath in one shot.

One of the skeletons has a scroll case on its back. Zook nails it right on the temple, shattering the head of the skeleton, dropping it into a pile of bones. Near the end of the battle, with just a few skeletons remaining the Will-o-wisp reappears, surrounding the heroes in globes of yellow light. Red feather leaps down from the roof, after delivering Sharesen safely.

Anna is forced to heal herself from the wound in her back. Sharesen does a perfect back flip over his skeleton adversary, but is unable to hit with his follow up attack.

The Will-o-wisp targets Turok once again and with a terrible bolt off lightening strikes him down. The bolt is so strong it scorches all the hair of his head and leaves singe marks all over his clothing. Immediately when he falls the globes pulse dark purple and begin to swirl over his fallen body. A purple mist starts to rise from Turok’s broken body.

Moving forward in a single movement Red Feather calls his tomahawks to his hands and with a mighty swing catches the largest globe and sunders it in half. The other globes turn gray and fall to the ground bursting like balls of jello.

Sharesen completes another back flip back the other way he came and then connects with this quarterstaff, shattering the back of the final skeleton.

With the battle over the night is suddenly quiet once again. The PCs take stock of their situation. Zook casts his final spell to heal Turok back from the edge of death. They all realize how close they came to losing their friend to the terrible powers of the Will-o-wisp.

They all gather as Zook opens the scroll case, barely avoiding what he is sure is some sort of contact poison. Inside a schedule follows out. On the paper it says “Land Trams to the Capital”, roughly translated from the original Assarisan language, which Zook knows how to speak. All the departure times, other than first watch, about 10:30pm are crossed out in fresh ink. Down below is writing “See you then” in Assarisan with a symbol. The PCs recognize it as the symbol of a totem-god names Horchet. He was once known as a totem-God that helped souls pass into the after life. The belief was that if he didn’t help them across, they would be cursed to roam the Earth in undeath.

Zook correctly reasons that the undead army, the skeletons especially that carry the symbol of Horchet on their foreheads, may belong to Horchet. If he had gone insane trapped inside a totem, then when he was released he may have hated the living so much that he wanted to trap them as undead.

The heroes ride the tram until it stops in the station, as the sun starts to come up over the city again. On the wall of the tram station is a map of the city, showing them how to get to the Land Tram station and they decide to head that way.

Outside the tram station they find a pile of old wagons, some contain treasure. They travel and find a place to rest, not sure what the following night might bring, but sure that something will be waiting for them in the dark when they get to the Land Tram Station.

Assault on the Goblin Settlement Session 2

Narrative

The morning battle outside the Goblin warren left the heroes sapped, but not exhausted.

They take a few moments to survey the devastation around them. Burning on the edge of the Goblin stronghold are the watch towers, that as they watch collapse sending plumes of sparks and black smoke skyward. Around them lie the dead bodies of the goblins that tried to stop them. Noticeable however through it all, is a decay, a rot that seems to permeate everything the goblins had built or touched.

In the supply building within the stockade the heroes find nothing of value. Armor has decayed and rotted, weapons are rusty and nicked, its like just the proximity to the goblins themselves is throwing an aura of decay on the entire environment.

The other large building within the stockade appeared to have been a primitive temple. Hanging from the ceiling were badly butchered and skinned carcasses of plains creatures. The first and smoke coming from this building has a horrendous stench that causes a few of the heroes to have to move to fresher air.

Having never fought in a large battle like this, Red Feather and Turok both seem visibly moved by the scene of death and carnage around them. But they also become resolute in the completion of the job.

After a short rest, the heroes attack the gaping hole in the side of the red sandstone Andal Crag. Red Feather breaks through the crude wooden barrier and is met by a goblin defense that is well ordered. In front of him are three goblins with the large shields, holding them with two hands and tall enough to hide behind. The shields are thick enough to repel nearly any martial weapon. Behind them are goblin archers, positioned to use the coverage from the shield holders to attack the PCs.

Sharesen smiled and cast a spell on a whisper. Instantly, several of the goblins, including two of shield holders, crash and fall asleep. With the loss of their defense the goblin archers panic, revealing several of the berserkers behind them. Turok, using the same strategy from the morning launched a flaming sphere into fallen and sleeping goblins. In the tight stone hallway none of them could escape from the heat. Red feather attacked the waking and sleeping goblins, taking them out with quick strikes. Fearing the attack, and seeing their comrades fall with ease against the powerful magics several of the goblins retreat back into the warren.

Seeing the hallway narrow, Brill volunteers to stay behind and guard the door, while the rest of the heroes enter deeper into the warren.

. So The PCs storm the goblin warren, carved from the red stone crags. They fight through the goblin defenses, survive several traps and battle the leader, a Hobgoblin and his Goblin mage assistant. They also find a goblin temple that points to the constellation of the hunter.

Assault on the Goblin Camp Session #1

Narrative

As morning breaks across the Andal Crags the heroes rush down upon an unsuspecting Goblin horde.

Marsus, Brill and the heroes split up, each attacking a separate look out tower. The magic users rained fire bolts into the shotty made and rough looking towers. They quickly started to burn as the tinder dry wood, collected out in the plains. Each tower has a few goblins stationed that start to send their own arrows back at the characters. A few hits land but with their armor the PCs are able to shake off the damage. The fire bolt cantrips seem especially effective at catching the towers on fire, but not in time to stop the Goblins from raising the alarm. Continuing north the Goblins have built a stockade around the entrance to their dungeon lair. The PCs can see a few buildings behind the stockade, and a second, smaller walled stockade that seems to be protecting a door carved in a towering redstone crag.

With the alarm raised the PCs make their way towards the stockade. They area around the settlement seems, tainted, somehow. Like the goblins themselves have changed the dirt and the grass around the area. Brill the great minotaur, senses danger coming from the groups left and charges towards a group or goblin riders on filthy Worgs. The stockade wall swings open and a line of Goblins rush forward. They carry spears and look like they have been trained to fight in a line. Behind the first stockade opening are rows of goblins all waiting to rush out to the plains.

Seeing a great opportunity to trap the goblins in the stockade door way Sharasen and Turok cast flaming spheres into the lines. The goblins were struck totally by surprise. The line failed as the bursts of white hot spheres like mini suns erupted in the middle of their formation.

The PCs, sensing and advantage rush forward to press the fight, as now the swarm of goblins stuck inside the stockade are trapped or have to rush past the flaming spheres blocking the doorway. The heat from the spheres lights the lashings holding the wooden stockade together and the whole long fence seems to be starting to go up in flame.

Rushing out of the smoke and sparks are suddenly made raving goblins. They wear armor with spikes and are frothing at the mouth. Two of the monsters rush at Red Feather, showing no concern for this arrow flights they leap on him, trying to damage him with the filthy rusty spikes on their clothes and chest armor. He resists the leaping attack of the first, knocking it down and killing it with his Tomahawks.

A second set of specialized goblins try to reorganize. These goblin are carrying full sized shields that almost completely cover them. They are moving cover for other goblins that start firing arrows from behind the cover. A small group joined together, but Turok swept his flaming sphere directly into the wall, blasting through it and scorching the goblins behind.

The flaming spheres kept the first wave of attack disorganized, but it was quickly clear that it wouldn’t be enough for the PCs to stop all the goblins. Flames traveled quickly through the lashings of the stockade and the wooden posts started to fall apart. The goblin horde, seeing a path away from the flaming spheres rushed the wall to break it down and rush over it like a wave.

Calling upon his powers, Marsus struck. A great whirlwind of flame rose up from the middle of the goblins, just as they started their rush. The great fireball exploded across the morning plains, leaving the goblins completely devastated. The fireball set a blaze the closest building inside the stockade as well, which sent think acrid smoke through the whole area.

Goblins that could, retreated quickly back into the crag, through an entrance carved in the crag behind the now ruined and burning stockade. The remaining goblins that couldn’t retreat fell into a frenzy of panic, and seeing no other option simply attacked the heroes the best they could.

Brill stopped the rush of the Worg riders but seemed to be outnumbered, as Zook cast a moonbeam into the middle of the attackers. Some of the goblin riders were overwhelmed by the spell, but their more powerful mounts seemed unfazed. One Worg ran straight at Zook, attacking him and knocking the small gnome prone. Under the weight of the worg Zook transformed into a great bear, fighting with tooth and call and dropping the worg after a terrible battle.

Working together the heroes defeated the remaining goblins, shocked a bit by their specialist troops. The searched the interior of the stockade and found that the first building Marsus put up in flames was some sort of temple, with rotting horrible create carcasses hanging from the rafters. The second building in the stockade appeared to be some kind of stock house, but the items were all starting to rot and were unusable. Again the goblin taint seemed to have leached the very goodness out of the items the PCs found.

Taking a breather and realizing it was just mid morning, the PCs planned their next move. They play to rest, before assaulting the blocked entrance to the goblin warren.

DM’s Corner

This was a really fun night and a great adventure to put in the player’s path. After the last well night, I felt like I was doing to much steering and as there are a few adventures coming up that are more related to the story, I added the goblin warren so the PCs would have a bit more of an open world play experience for a few sessions. They also needed some serious combat experience as we hadn’t done that.

Of course the Andal Crags are based on the Garden of the Gods, as the picture shows.

As I was mapping out the area, I thought it would be cool to have the PCs do a bit of a dungeon crawl as well. I always want a cohesive story, meaning, I don’t like dungeons that are just “there” in the world. Even with magic, dungeons are hard to build and I want them to always have a purpose in my games that make sense. Coming up in the next adventure will see how I did!

The PCs give as good as they get when they assault the Goblin settlement. They take out the sentry towers with fire magic and then release flaming spheres that stop a charge from the goblin stockade. They drive the goblins into their lair, carved out of the red sandstone spires of the Andel Crags.

Adventures in Last Well

Narrative

PCs rest at the tavern Marsus pays for. Sharasen has a troubling experience in the morning. Turok seems to be filling ill. They meet the a Prophet at the Last Well and are attacked by a group of thugs wearing the symbol of the Wild Hunt. They leave the town down the caravan route, leaving before they caravan behind them arrives in town. After a few days travel they head North up the old caravan route that will lead them to Assarisante.

After camping in the field they are attacked in the night by a group of goblins. The capture a wand of magic missile, but it is a difficult fight.

Down the Pass and on the Plains

The Narrative

Having left the Caravan behind the group starts their long descent down the pass through the Great Cliff. The Pass is called the Great Cut, as it is the only reasonable place to descend the cliff and reach the plains for hundreds of miles north or south.

As the Caravan road above them, the pass is well maintained. The creation of the Pass was a great public work that evolved as the Caravans grew in size and complexity. Originally a dry canyon that had been cut at a reasonable slope through the cliff face, it was the only break in the cliff near the Mountain passes that gave East – West access to the Caravans.

Now it is a wide road, with stone walls on the cliff side of the switch backs to insure that loose stones don’t fall on the road. It is slopped for drainage and has a reasonable grade for the Caravan wagons to travel up and down on. It takes nearly three days of travel down the pass, and the heroes find regular turn outs where they can set up camp.